Tag Archives: gay events

Aim King 19/10/23

Aberration, Events, LGBTAberration, Aberystwyth, gay events, lesbian events, LGBT, music, non-binary, spoken word, trans events

We are thrilled to welcome Aim King to Aberration at the Bank Vault – intimate bar venue in Aberystwyth. Doors 6pm, onstage around 7pm. Host Helen Sandler. Free Entry. Donations to All Out.

Prepare to be bathed in sound, as haunting new voice Aim King performs original spoken word over live beats from their new band. A unique evening!

Aim writes amazing lyrics that wash over you and evoke visions and emotions – unique but with an affinity with artists such as Arlo Parks or Kae Tempest, or going back in time Massive Attack and Tricky. You can have a listen to the stunning Liminal album here: https://aimking.bandcamp.com/album/liminal-l

Aim King is an ecologist, filmmaker, and poet, who grew up in London and is currently undertaking a practice-based PhD at Aberystwyth University. Through writing, they are interested in drawing together threads of inner and outer worlds, in accessing the collective heart-mind, and in making transitory feelings tangible. This year they released a spoken word album, entitled liminal(l), which explores the in-betweenness we exist within.

Bank Vault is a gorgeous venue that kindly welcomes Aberration without charge, so please support this lovely intimate bar in return by buying lots of drinks! They are well stocked including superb craft beers. Also please bring cash for donations to AllOut, the international campaigning charity that channels funds direct to LGBTQ+ projects at grassroots level.

Aberration is generously supported by Aberystwyth University.

Aberration x Queer Diary

Aberration, Events, LGBTAberration, Aberystwyth, Cymru, gay events, lesbian events, LGBT, trans events

13 July 2023, Bank Vault bar, Aberystwyth. 6pm doors, 7pm start

The popular Queer Diary night from ‘That London’ is on tour – and they’re coming to Aberystwyth especially for Aberration! People, get ready!

Ad for Queer Diary reads: Live teenage diary readings from live grown-up queers plus cringey poetry, GCSE artwork, thirsty fanfic and throwback soundtrack.

Would You Read Your Teenage Diary Aloud To A Room Full Of People?

A brave group of LGBTQIA+ folk are doing just that at Queer Diary – the night where queers share our teen angst (and joy, dreams, follies, and fabulousness). We can’t promise to reunite you with your first crush, but we do aim to reignite that rush of adrenaline you got when they first noticed you.

In here the goths, the punks, the emos, the nerds, the glee-clubbers (and maybe a few populars?) come together as grown-ups, to escape cis-het-normativity by sharing our younger selves’ innermost thoughts via old diary entries, fanfiction stories, tumblr posts, and possibly the odd bit of cringey poetry!

Quick links:

To book, click here: https://www.outsavvy.com/event/14692/queer-diary-aberystwyth
To apply to read, click here: https://bit.ly/QueerDiaryTakePart
To see the FAQs first, click here: https://www.bethwatson.co.uk/queerdiaryfaq

Mae croeso i chi ddarllen yn Gymraeg – rhowch wybod i ni pan fyddwch yn cofrestru, a chrynhowch yn Saesneg ar ddechrau neu ddiwedd eich darlleniad os yn bosibl plis.

If your contribution is not in English – whether it’s in Welsh or another language – please let us know when signing up so we can facilitate your reading. It would be great if you could summarise in English if possible at the start or end of your reading.

Note: If you have registered to read then you don’t need to book a ticket. If you incur expenses you can claim them back from Queer Diary.

Don’t want to read? Come and listen!
We need an audience!

Please book if you possibly can, so that the fabulous Queer Diary presenter and producer, Beth and Josie, can share details with you!

TICKETS: Pay what you can – between zilch and £12 depending on your circumstances. Book via OutSavvy here >>

Poster for Queer Diary at Aberration featuring image of Beth Watson as host.

ACCESS: Ground floor bar. Wheelchair access by side door which bar staff will need to open for you. Let us know if you would like us to meet you outside at a specific time to make this easier. (Email aberrationcymru@gmail.com) There are two unisex toilets. We are sorry but the toilets are not accessible by wheelchair.

Ethos

This is an LGBTQIA+ themed night, and all open-minded folk are welcome. Trans and non-binary people are of course very much part of our rainbow at both Aberration and Queer Diary. Straight allies are welcome in the audience too.

Please note this event is themed around memories of teenage years gone by, and is aimed at adult audiences.

See you there! Edrych ymlaen!

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Aberration goes to town with Mike Parker

Aberration, Events, LGBTAberration, Aberystwyth, books, Cymru, gay events, LGBT

Reading and telling tales from his books and his colourful past!

Thurs 29 June 2023 Doors open 6pm for bar and chat, onstage around 7pm

Venue: Bank Vault bar, 1 New Street, Aberystwyth

Writer, broadcaster and friend of Aberration, Mike Parker, will read from his new book All the Wide Border – in which he walks the borderlands between Cymru and England. Mike also has some tales up his sleeve especially for the Aberration audience. Would you like to hear about when Mike met Lily Savage, when he kissed Dana International (the first trans Eurovision winner), when he admired the Cerne Abbas Giant (giant by name and giant by endowment), or just how he got his very gay house? Mike will entertain us with as many of these encounters as he has time for!

Mike is a fascinating and entertaining speaker, a witty wanderer who has queered travel writing and psycho-geography for the 21st century.

He is also an activist for Welsh independence and LGBTQ+ rights. In his previous book, On the Red Hill, Mike rewrote the history of the past 50 years via the heritage of his own house and the gay couple who lived there before. And before that, he stood for parliament and wrote about it in The Greasy Poll.

Mike previously co-wrote the first edition of The Rough Guide, came out as a Map Addict, and sailed round Wales in the TV series Coast to Coast (by boat) and Great Welsh Roads (by van).

About the night

Everyone is welcome at this edition of Aberration yn y Dre / Aberration Goes to Town. Just turn up on the night at the Bank Vault bar (1 New Street, Aberystwyth). We have an LGBTQ+ ethos, with trans people very much included. But you don’t have to be queer to be here – straight and cisgender people are welcome too. Just bring an open mind.

Come early from 6pm to get a good seat and have a drink and a chat. Free entry but please buy drinks to support our lovely venue – and bring some cash to get a personally signed copy of the book for yourself or a friend. Plus donation box for AllOut charity.

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Summer ’23 Aberration Calendar

Aberration, Archive, LGBTAberration, Aberystwyth, Cymru, gay events, lesbian events, LGBT

Aberration yn y Dre / Aberration Goes to Town

Live at the Bank Vault bar every month!

16 May: VG Lee – read more >>

29 June: Mike Parker

13 July: Queer Diary

11 August: Beach Picnic! On Aberystwyth South Beach from 6pm. Details coming soon.

History Month ’23 Calendar

Aberration, Film, LGBTAberration, Aberystwyth, Cymru, film, gay events, lesbian events, LGBT

Events in Cymru for ‘Long LGBTQ+ History Month’ involving Aberration or Queer Tales from Wales

March 2023 – Book now!

Tuesday 7 March, 5pm, National Library, Aberystwyth.
Queer Tales from Wales present ‘A Moral Amazon: The Story of Miss Amy Dillwyn’. A novelist, industrialist and cigar smoker, Miss Dillwyn also loved her friend Olive with all her heart. ? https://www.library.wales/visit/things-to-do/events

Sun 26 March, 2.30pm, Aberystwyth Arts Centre, Aberration will be part of a screening at WOW Festival of A Home for My Heart. This kind and moving documentary follows Suvana Sudeb, an Indian trans woman, through the ups and downs of life with family, friends, lover and comrades. With Q&A.
https://www.aberystwythartscentre.co.uk/cinema/wow-home-my-heart-15-short-film-mirrors

February 2023 (past events)

Sun 12 Feb, 12 noon, Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff.
LezDiff celebrates History Month with films, talks and performances. Queer Tales appear with both ‘Queen of the Lake’ and ‘A Moral Amazon: The Story of Miss Amy Dillwyn’. Also on the bill are our friends Behind the Lines and Norena Shopland.
https://lezdiff.org/lgbtq-history-month-event/

Sat 18 Feb, 2.30pm, Aberystwyth Arts Centre.
Aberration presents: Proud Writing Workshop with Norena Shopland – writing from history. Book early, limited to 15 places.

Sat 18 Feb, 7pm, Aberystwyth Arts Centre.
Aberration presents Dreaming Up the Past: Exciting evening of film, art, music and drama. With Cerys Hafana, Amy Daniel, Sarah-Joy Ford, Lost Knitters + Cranogwen.
https://www.aberration.org.uk/dreaming-up-the-past-18-2-23/

Thurs 23 Feb, 6pm, Conwy Museums & Archives.
Queer Tales from Wales present ‘Two Welshmen in Rome’ – the dramatised story of renowned sculptor John Gibson & his special friend Penry Williams. https://conwylibraries.com/events/out-and-about-lgbtq-history-month-celebration-event

Dreaming Up The Past

Aberration, Events, LGBTAberration, Aberystwyth, Cymru, gay events, lesbian events, LGBT

Bringing LGBTQ+ histories to life

Our tenth LGBTQ+ History Month! At Aberystwyth Arts Centre on 18 February 2023. Workshop, cafe, and evening event.

Supported by Aberystwyth University & National Library of Wales

Workshop

Please note: Proud Writing Workshop with Norena Shopland at 2pm has now sold out.

Dinner

5.30 to 6.30pm: All welcome to eat together in the Aberystwyth Arts Centre Café – pay as you go. Let us know if you want us to reserve a place in our space by emailing aberrationcymru@gmail.com

Dreaming Up the Past – The main event!

Tocynnau >> Tickets >> £10 / £8

Take your seats from 6.45pm with a welcome at 7pm from your host Helen Sandler.

Cerys Hafana – live music

Cerys Hafana is top of the bill! Cerys is a composer and multi-instrumentalist from Machynlleth who mangles, mutates, and transforms traditional music. She explores the creative possibilities and unique qualities of the triple harp, and is also interested in found sounds, archive materials and electronic processing. Her latest release, Edyf, was Folk Album of the Month in the Guardian.

Especially for Aberration, Cerys has created ‘Queer as Folk’, by interviewing other LGBTQ+ musicians from around the UK and will be playing clips from these interviews as well as singing and playing live for us. A work in progress that has never been heard before!

“Cerys Hafana’s sound is simultaneously ancient in feel and yet impossibly, intriguingly modern. It is also in a field of its own; there is nothing else quite like this” – folkradio.co.uk

“Raw power” – Songlines

“A master of the Welsh triple harp… Hafana also sings movingly, her high voice like an indie-pop soprano shorn of its sweetness.” – Guardian

Behind the Lens – film and Q&A

Screening of Ysbrydion (Spirits) (Welsh with English subtitles), a stunning new short documentary by award-winning film director Amy Daniel. The film features four people sharing their experiences of growing up LGBTQ+ in rural Wales, imaginatively projected into the landscape. Followed by a panel discussion with Amy and participants.

Beloved – lesbian art

Sarah-Joy Ford will talk about her 2022 solo show Beloved: Crafting Intimacies with the Ladies of Llangollen at Plas Newydd. Created after a period of residency, the site-specific embroidered intervention was inspired by the deep and lifelong intimate relationship between the Ladies and the extraordinary home that they created together from 1780.

Sarah-Joy Ford is an artist researcher working with textiles to explore the complexities and pleasures of queer communities, histories and archives.

Tocynnau >> Tickets >>

The Lost Knitters of Tregaron – live theatre

The Lost Knitters take time out from their hard lives gathering wool, spinning and knitting to tell the story of their lives. Times are changing and they gossip about two local girls who cross-dress and have been immortalised in the street-corner ballad ‘Wel Lanciau’.

Then Sarah-Jane Rees – often known by her bardic name Cranogwen – visits to answer their questions. Wondering what to do with your life? Cranogwen has the answer!

Cranogwen (1839-1916) was a writer, sailor, lecturer, and editor of the women’s magazine Y Frythones. Her relationships with women sustained and inspired her. She comes back to life this evening for your edification and delight.

Donations

Please bring cash for donations to AllOut, the international campaigning network that supports LGBTQ+ people wherever their rights and safety are threatened.

Croeso cynnes

All welcome. The evening is suitable for adults and young people interested in LGBTQ+ lives and history. Aberration is a trans-positive space. Event partly in English, partly in Welsh with English subtitles. The venue has good disabled access.

Book now!

Tickets >>

Tocynnau >>

Cefnogir gan / Supported by

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Summer Sizzlers

Aberration, Events, LGBTAberration, Aberystwyth, Cymru, gay events, lesbian events, LGBT

Aberration Summer Sizzlers:
Queer History Walk & Beach Picnic
Sat 20/8/22

Dewch i ymuno â ni – dau digwyddiad gwych yn Aber!

TWO GREAT EVENTS ON 20 AUGUST 2022

EVENING

BEACH PICNIC – JUST TURN UP!

7pm onwards on Aberystwyth South Beach near The Hut refreshment stand – look out for the rainbow flags and join the fun! Just turn up (no booking). Bring your own picnic. All LGBTQ+ people and their supportive friends and families welcome. If you are under 16 then your parent or carer needs to be with you.

Join the Facebook event page for updates >>

AFTERNOON

QUEER HISTORY WALK – SOLD OUT!

Manylion (Cymraeg) >> Wedi gwerthu allan!

Profits to AllOut – the grassroots campaigning charity for LGBT+ people worldwide.

Meet 2.30pm at The Bank Vault bar, 1 New Street, Aberystwyth for a guided walk around the town led by Jane Hoy of Aberration & Queer Tales from Wales. Fascinating stories of the queer history of Aber and the people who lived and worked here.

More info>>

Parti Traeth Aberration Beach Party

Archive, LGBTAberration, Aberystwyth, gay events, lesbian events, LGBT, Mid Wales, trans events

On Friday 5 July 2019 we had a fab beach party! Starting out in Bottle & Barrel bar and then with food and fires on Aberystwyth South Beach. A lovely sunny evening social. Here’s a pic while the sun was still out.

Cabarration 2016

Archive, LGBTAberystwyth, Cymru, gay events, lesbian events, LGBT, Mid Wales, trans events

Aberration

CABARRATION

8pm 21 October 2016 (doors 7.30pm)
Aberystwyth Arts Centre – Great Hall
A cabaret night with a very queer bite!

Book tickets here>>

AMAZING ACTS…

Jonathan Mayor

Jonathan Mayor will be entertaining us with his cutting comedy – dressed up in glitter-storm Bollywood drag and delivered with twinkly chutzpah. Coming all the way from Gaychester just to entertain you.

‘A self-obsessed glittery queen with a larger than life personality who arrives onstage in a bamboozling mix of innuendo’ – Manchester Evening News
‘Very funny’ – Michael Palin
‘Marvellously wicked’ – Sarah Millican

www.jonathanmayor.co.uk
Twitter: @jonathanmayor

Lynette Frances

Lynette Frances is a hit wherever she plays, from L Fest to an intimate bar, combining an amazing voice with a love of entertaining. She will play a range of rock and country covers to get us in the Friday night vibe. Later in the evening, Lynette will be teaching us all a line-dance so get your dancing shoes on!

Lynette lives on the south coast of England and has been performing since the age of 12. She runs the Way Out Country Facebook group for LGBT lovers of country music and line-dancing.

lynettefrances.webs.com
Twitter: @LynetteFrances

Ashleigh Owen

Ashleigh Owen will be performing an extract from her one-woman show, ‘The Rise and Fall Of The Hamburger Queen’, which can be seen in full at the Unity Theatre, Liverpool, as part of Homotopia.

Ashleigh’s mum wouldn’t let her dance, because dancing killed her dad. ‘He went down into the splits and never got up again.’ She danced in secret until the day came to break the news to her mother: she was leaving for London to become a famous dancer. Bright lights, big city, wide-eyed Scouser… what could possibly go wrong?

www.ashleighowen.co.uk
Twitter: @AshleighPOwen

Sparkles Hoop Troupe

Hula-hoop dancing from Cardiff’s amazing Sparkles Hoop Troupe. This community troupe is fully inclusive and hooping crazy.

‘The funniest, finest and most dynamic act in Cardiff!’ – We Are Cardiff Press

sparkleshooptroupe.simdif.com
Twitter: @sparkleshoop

Ernie Sparkles

Fun ‘boylesque’ (male burlesque) from Ernie Sparkles. Cheeky in every way!

Bois y Fro

Aberystwyth’s own vocal quartet, Bois y Fro, have been singing together off-and-on for 10 years and more. With a repertoire ranging from folk to classical to modern (and a lot of things in between) in both Welsh and English, there’s sure to be something for everyone when these guys take the stage.

Twitter: @boisyfro

Plus…

Hosted by Aberration favourite Helen Sandler, with raffle and bar. The evening has an LGBTQI+ theme (lesbian, gay, bi, trans, queer, intersex, and all-round inclusive). All open-minded people are welcome at this fun and friendly night. “You don’t have to be queer to be here.” Dress to impress!

Join our event on Facebook for updates>>

Book your tickets now through Aberystwyth Arts Centre>>

Aberration is brought to you by SpringOut and Enfys Aber, in partnership with Aberystwyth Arts Centre. Without the financial and practical support of the Arts Centre, this year's Cabarration could not take place (or not unless we charged three times as much for the tickets) so please come along, show your support for the biggest queer-themed night in Mid Wales and have a fabulous night. Diolch yn fawr!

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New acts at Aberration

Archive, LGBTAberystwyth, gay events, lesbian events, LGBT

{archived posts follow from previous events}

New acts

More fab performers at Aberration: Out for Summer

Aberration recently put out a call for new performers and we had a terrific response. We are delighted to have two new acts at Aberration Out for Summer on 27 May.

Leonie Campbell is a poetry slam winner and a student on the creative writing MA at Aber. She has won two ECWS poetry slams and been published in The Wait anthology and in Wales Within.

Jess Jones is a singer-songwriter based in Wales who plays melodic, emotional original ballads, and covers a wide range of pop and rock music. Come along and see Jess and Leonie perform at Aberration Out for Summer!

More info

Book through Aberystwyth Arts Centre